Blackburn social worker ‘let girl live with killer mum’

A SOCIAL worker from Blackburn who allowed a seven year-old girl to live with her convicted killer mum has been given a caution from her professional body.

Caroline Wilson was responsible for supervising contact between the child and her mother following her release from a three-year jail term for killing her two year-old son, the General Social Care Council heard.

But Lancashire County Council discovered the girl was staying with her mum following a visit over Easter 2007.

Wilson, of Pendle Drive, off Brandy House Brow, later told bosses that the child ‘just ended up staying’.

The hearing was told she had failed to understanding the risk involved.

She also failed to assess the mother’s drug use or problems with depression, despite being told to do so ‘without delay’.

The social worker, who attended the central London hearing, had been placed with the county council in December 2006 despite having little experience of working with children.

GSCC panel chair Sarah Phillips said the committee were ‘surprised’ that such an inexperienced social worker had been assigned to Child M.

“It was plainly a complex and demanding case.

“The registrant acknowledged that her handling of this case fell far below proper professional standards and was in a number of respects both misleading and dishonest.

“We consider there is a low risk of recurrence and so impose a caution which will remain on the registrant’s record for five years. This will provide an adequate level of public protection.”

The GSCC heard the mother had come out of prison after completing a sentence for the manslaughter of the child’s younger brother, the hearing was told.

It was agreed that contact between Child M, who was then under seven, and her mother could continue but only under supervision.

But two months later Wilson’s bosses at the county council discovered the girl was back with her mum.

Wilson’s manager Barbara Bath said the social worker ‘appeared to have little or no understanding of the risk she placed Child M in’.

She was sacked on June 15, 2007, the hearing was told.

Wilson admitted failing to carry out Child M’s assessment ‘without delay’, behaving dishonestly in falsely asserting that the child had been referred to mental health services and failing to consult colleagues prior to allowing the child to live with her mother.

She further admitted completing the child’s core assessment in June 2007 but not to the standards expected.